Perhaps more than any other subgenre, fantasy video games are among the best that gaming has to offer. Universes filled with dragons, wizards, knights, and monsters date back to the earliest days of gaming and continue to be seen frequently to this day. That being said, some of these fantasy worlds have separated themselves from the pack and remain beloved, even in the absence of new games tied to these properties being released.
While the competition is steep, these are without question the five best fantasy video game franchises to have ever come about.
5) The Witcher
This fifth spot was very difficult to nail down. Contenders included Dragon Quest, Dragon Age, and Baldur’s Gate, just to name a few. At the end of the day, though, The Witcher ended up beating out the competition for a couple of key reasons, primarily thanks to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
While it might not have as many major entries when compared to other franchises, The Witcher 3 is arguably the greatest fantasy game to ever release. It serves as both an excellent sequel to The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings while also being a fantastic entry point for newcomers. Even though the first two Witcher games don’t hold up as well today when compared to Wild Hunt, developer CD Projekt Red is currently working on a remake of the first entry. If this remake and the upcoming The Witcher 4 both end up panning out well, then The Witcher has a chance to move up this ranking in the years to come.
4) Final Fantasy
The only fantasy franchise on this list to actually have “fantasy” in its name, Final Fantasy has been a powerhouse for Square Enix since its introduction in 1987. Since that time, 16 mainline Final Fantasy games have come about, with the most acclaimed being that of Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy X, and Final Fantasy XIV. Even today, Square Enix continues to release new mainline entries in the saga while also crafting various remakes, remasters, and new spin-offs.
The only reason that Final Fantasy isn’t a bit higher is because its quality is a bit all over the place at times. In total, there are well over 100 Final Fantasy games that have been released since the franchise was established. While most of those games are good or great, there have definitely been plenty of bad entries as well. This level of inconsistency keeps Final Fantasy outside of the top three spots, even if the series is far better than it is worse.
3) Elden Ring/Dark Souls
Is it cheating to put both Elden Ring and Dark Souls in a single spot? Sort of. FromSoftware’s iconic “Soulslike” action properties might not share the same world, but the connective tissue between them is incredibly similar. This isn’t true only when it comes to gameplay mechanics, but also the manner in which story and lore details are shared with the player.
That being said, this lore seen in Dark Souls and Elden Ring is a lot. Each series contains some of the most fascinating, complex, and engaging lore that you can find in the fantasy genre, but it’s also harder to parse through than just about anything else. While you’ll need to watch plenty of helpful YouTube videos to understand the lore and universe of Dark Souls and Elden Ring, once you do, you’ll be hard-pressed to think there’s anything better.
2) The Legend of Zelda
Likely Nintendo’s biggest franchise outside of Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda is both one of the greatest and oldest fantasy gaming series. It began with the original The Legend of Zelda on NES and has continued up until Nintendo Switch with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Over that time, Nintendo has redefined the action-adventure genre numerous times over and has won Game of the Year awards for titles like A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, and Breath of the Wild.
What keeps Zelda from truly being the best of the best when it comes to fantasy universes is its approach to storytelling and worldbuilding. For the most part, each individual Zelda game tells its own separate story that doesn’t take anything that came before it into account. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing and doesn’t hold true across all entries, it makes the overall world of Zelda equal parts confusing and disjointed. Nintendo itself has even shown an unwillingness to care about Zelda’s timeline, so why should anyone else care?
1) The Elder Scrolls
Yes, The Elder Scrolls is by far the best fantasy gaming franchise of all-time. Established in 1994 with The Elder Scrolls: Arena, Bethesda’s flagship series has continued to evolve and raise the stakes with each new entry. This culminated with the ever-played The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, but continues to also be seen in The Elder Scrolls Online and the recent The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered.
What truly sets The Elder Scrolls apart from every other fantasy universe is Bethesda’s attention to detail. The Elder Scrolls is designed to be a world that players can roleplay and exist within for hundreds of hours. To that end, Bethesda has made a fantasy world that feels more fully realized than those seen in any other medium, including Middle-Earth. The Elder Scrolls games might be filled with plenty of bugs and other oddities, but they’re without question the best that gaming has to offer when it comes to high fantasy.
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